Where To Go First

 

Following in the footsteps of Jesus and his Vicar

01/05/2026

Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people. His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.

Today I want to draw a mental map using our church layout so we might picture the land of Israel in Jesus’ day. First, visualize the center aisle of the church as the Jordan River that runs from the north to the south of Israel. Up here, where you come up to receive Holy Communion, is the Sea of Galilee in the north. And at the other end of the center aisle at the doors of the church is the Dead Sea in the south.

All you people close to the doors are in Jerusalem, like Mary Louise and Laura Farrell. All the people along the side wall by the glass doors are swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, Peggy Correll and Bill and Judy Marry. And so those who sit close to the front of the Sea of Galilee are in Zebulun and Naphtali, like Philip Hindman, Victoria Le, Tony Reith and Danny Meyers. And where the priests and deacons sit is the nations of Assyria and Babylon, the bad guys who kept invading and destroying Israel.

So, let me ask you: where is the most vulnerable and dangerous place to live in Israel? You guessed it: Zebulun and Naphtali. You guys might want to move a little farther back in church. And in the gospel today, where does Jesus go first to begin his public ministry? We read: “He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.”

In other words, Jesus went first to preach the good news and heal and teach to the areas that had suffered the most because they needed to heal his words of comfort the most. If you have been keeping up with Pope Leo XIV, you know the first foreign countries he went to visit were Turkey and Lebanon, not exactly a vacation or resort area.

Why not come to the United States first – he’s the first American pope after all – or some other rich and powerful nation and start building strategic alliances and relationships that could benefit the Church materially and economically? That would be a smart thing to do, right? Maybe. Well, I think he went to Turkey and Lebanon for at least two reasons, maybe more.

First, because like Jesus, he went to where people are suffering and need to hear words of comfort and peace. Pope Leo knows well the old maxim of good preaching: “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” But second, Pope Leo wants to heal the divisions between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

For example, he met with the Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew and signed a joint declaration to work on a common date for Easter. You may know that Catholics and Orthodox have different dates for Easter. Following in the footsteps of Jesus, Pope Leo in effect traveled to the modern-day Zebulun and Naphtali, where people suffer chronically and the flashpoint of division in the Church.

My friends, the message for us today is to do the same and walk in the footsteps of Jesus and his Vicar. That is, zero in your attention, exert your energy, and marshal your resources to help the Zebuluns and Naphatalis in your life. Isn’t this what all good parents do? If you have 3 children who are well and thriving and one who is sickly and struggling, where will a good mom and dad spend their time and love? Well, to ask the question is to answer it.

And if you remember, Zebulun and Naphtali are not just two geographical places on a map in Israel. They are the two northernmost tribes of Israel that descended from two of the 12 sons of Jacob who was renamed Isreal. Of the 12 children of Jacob, who had suffered the most? Zebulun and Naphtali. And that is why Isaiah chapter 8 had prophesied:

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.” And that, by the way, is why we give Communion first to Victoria, Danny, Tony, and Philip.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

David’s Sling

 

New Year’s resolution of praying the daily rosary

01/02/2026

Luke 2:16-21 The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Last Saturday I was driving to visit some friends and channel surfing, hoping to find some classic rock music: Led Zeplin or ZZ Top. Instead, I stumbled upon a old broadcast of Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis praying the rosary with the seminarians in Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. And I thought: “Well, I guess the rosary is better than rock-n-roll, so I prayed with the good archbishop and his faithful seminarians. But before Archbishop Carlson began to recite the rosary, he gave a little intro that touched me deeply.

He quoted an encyclical by Pope Pius XII on the rosary called “Ingruentium Malorum” (meaning “in the face of approaching evils”). Pope Pius compared Mary’s rosary to King David’s diminutive sling with which, you will recall, he laid low the towering Goliath. In other words, Mary’s rosary, like David’s sling, may look unimpressive on the outside, but it is filled with divine power and can defeat our enemies, especially the devil.

In the gospel of Luke today we hear how Mary herself in effect prayed the first rosary. How so? Well, Luke chapters 1 and 2 recount the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary. Then the third Evangelist adds: “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” That is, even though Mary did not hold rosary beads in her hand, she was spiritually clutching David’s sling, in her meditations.

Her contemplative prayers gave her peace and strength against all the Goliath’s that she and her Son had already faced in the first two chapters, and would still have to face in the rest of the gospel. That is what we meditated on in each mystery: the power of God keeping us safe from our enemies, just like he did with David.

Folks, we have arrived at the end of the road of 2025, and now we stare down the barrel of the New Year, 2026. As we look back, we too can probably remember some Goliath’s of 2025 that we had to face both individually and collectively. Personally, I faced the Goliath of losing my dog, Apollo back in September. I never imagined how hard that would be.

And Catholics collectively grieved the death of a good pope, Pope Francis, a loss for the Church and the world. Nonetheless, Catholics who prayed the rosary this past year imitated Mary in the gospel, that is, we “kept all these things and reflecting on them in our hearts.” And clutching David’s sling, we found peace and strength to face down those Goliaths of 2025.

The same can happen as we look forward to 2026, and ask God to bless the coming 365 days. I see my parents on most Fridays and I always leave them with a blessing. I say: “May God bless you with health, happiness, and holiness.” That is my prayer for each of you this New Year’s Day: “May God bless you and your loved ones with health, happiness, and holiness.” But besides those blessings, I suspect God will also send us some Goliaths, like doubts, disease, and death.

Why is every year a mixed bag of blessings and burdens? Well, I saw a meme recently picturing a tall and terrifying Goliath looking menacingly down on a small and innocent David. The caption read: “when God wanted to make a king out of David, He did not give him a crown. He gave him Goliath.” Then the caption continued: “Your challenges prepare you for your purpose.” Every year God wants to make us kings and queens, not by sending us crowns but sending us crosses.

And this is why we begin each new year by turning our eyes to Mary, our Mother. Why? Well, we follow her example in the gospel of meditating on the mysteries of both the blessings and burdens in Jesus and Mary’s life so we can understand the purpose of the blessings and burdens in our own lives. In other words, when we pick up the rosary we arm ourselves with David’s sling to deal with the Goliaths of 2026.

So, if you need a New Year’s Resolution for 2026, don’t just commit yourself to diets and exercise plans and gym memberships. Those resolutions are good, obviously. But in addition, and more so, resolve to pray the rosary every day. Like Mary, take time to “keep these things (both blessings and burdens of 2026), reflecting on them in your heart.” Only by carrying the cross can you wear the crown.

Let me leave you with the inspiring words of Pope Pius XII: “Not with force, not with arms, not with human power, but with Divine help obtained through the means of [the rosary], strong like David’s with his sling, the Church undaunted shall be able to confront the infernal enemy, repeating to him the words of the young shepherd:

“Thou comest to me with a sword and a spear, and with shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of armies…and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for this is his battle, and he will deliver you into our hands” (1 Sm 17: 45-47). And that's why we should pray the rosary before listening to rock-n-roll.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Charged with the Grandeur of God

 

Seeing how Christmas daylight dispel the darkness

12/25/2025

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness,  and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

I have to confess that around this time of year I suffer from some seasonal depression. I feel kind of sad, emotionally and physically tired, and I get a little grumpy. Does this happen to you? And the culprit is the climate: the decrease in daylight. Have you noticed how at the summer solstice around June 21 every year, the night time spreads longer and longer until the winter solstice around December 21, when we have the longest nighttime, and the shortest daytime. That’s what I feel really down in the dumps.

But then right around Christmas, I start feeling a change, because the daylight starts fighting back. How so? Well, the daylight increases minute by minute until the summer solstice when we experience the longest day and the shortest night. At the height of summer I feel the happiest. You see, even the cosmos conspires to tell the Christian story: Christ the Light defeats the darkness. Gerard Manley Hopkins put Christ’s victory poetically: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”

In the gospel today John the Evangelist uses light and darkness to express his feelings about faith. In his profound Prologue, he describes Jesus as the Light of the world, and states boldly: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” In other words, while the Christian story is played out in the heavens above between daylight and dark, the real story is enacted on earth between Jesus, the Light, and the devil, the Prince of darkness. The coming of Christ at Christmas overcomes the deepest darkness in the heavens and on the earth.

In 2014 Scott Hahn wrote a book about Christmas called: “Joy to the World”. He relates the story about his family taking a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. After a long and boring wait to see the exact spot where Jesus was born, Hahn writes: “I told Hannah (his teenage daughter) it could be an hour’s wait till all our people made it through.

“She sighed a deep teenaged sigh, expressing boredom that approached despair.” By the way, has anyone here heard that “deep teenaged sign, expressing boredom that approaches despair”? You probably heard it in the back seat driving to Mass tonight. But their next stop was an orphanage. Hahn continued:

“Hannah was giddy and practically ecstatic, to be around children instead of monuments. The staff led her to a chair and asked if she would like to hold babies. Hannah gave an eager yes. She cradled the tiny boy in her arms and leaned her face down toward his. Her voice rose an octave as she lavished endearments on him.”

Then Hahn gives this spiritual interpretation of that scene: “As I watched Hannah, radiant in that chair in Bethlehem, I thought of another teenage girl. She, too, had come to this town from far away. Her eighty-mile journey by donkey surely took longer than our non-stop flight from New York. She arrived under circumstances that were less than ideal. She surely had to wait in line and deal with crowds.

“Yet that young woman long centuries ago found fulfillment in Bethlehem – in a baby placed in her arms.” In other words, Hannah, like Mary, overcame the darkness of her adolescent ennui as she peered into the bright eyes of a baby boy cradled in her arms. John the Evangelist was right: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

My friends, we all suffer from seasonal depression, during some “season” of our lives as the Protestants say. Maybe it’s the season of adolescent depression that makes us uncomfortable in our own skin. Perhaps it’s a woman’s season of post-partum depression after the birth of a baby. It could be a man’s season of a mid-life crisis depression, making him want to change his life and change his wife. And finally we all face the depressing season of old age. One friend of mine warns me: “Fr. John, getting old ain’t for sissies!”

Well, let me invite you to enter this church today like Hannah entered that orphanage, and Mary entered Bethlehem. Why? Because there is a Baby here that needs you to hold Him in your arms and cradle him in your heart. But of course, it’s not he who needs you; rather, it’s you who need him. You and I need the Light of the world to scatter the darkness of our seasonal depressions. And that is why this Christmas story has to be retold every year in the heavens above and on earth below.

C. S. Lewis used light and darkness to express his faith, saying memorably: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.” Lewis perfectly captures the meaning of Christmas: the Son of God is born and his Light scatters the darkness. At Christmas, “the world is suddenly charged with the grandeur of God.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Recycle or Revolution

 

Choosing which traditions to keep and discard

12/23/2025

Luke 1:57-66 When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to  e called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

My Indian culture has a custom of naming babies that can be very confusing, but it’s also kind of cool. We recycle names every two generations. For example, the first-born son is named for his grandfather on his father’s side. The first born-daughter is named for her grandmother on her father's side. The second-born son is named for his grandfather on his mother’s side. And the second-born daughter is named for her grandmother on her mother’s side. Do you see the pattern?

So, let me ask you: since I am the second-born son, who am I named after? You guessed it: I share my maternal grandfather’s name, “Yohannan.” And if a family has more than two boys and two girls, those additional children are given up for adoption. Just kidding, I really don’t know how they are named. But the basic pattern recycles names every two generations. And I feel a special bond with my mom’s dad, even though I never knew him.

The Jewish culture of the 1st century must have had a similar tradition of recycling family names. In fact, the footnote in the USCCB online Bible for Lk 1:59 reads: “The practice of Palestinian Judaism at this time was to name a child at birth…the usual practice was to name the child after the grandfather.” So Malayalees and Middle Easterners share recycling names in common. But Zachariah and Elizabeth break with that Jewish tradition to indicate that something new was dawning.

You see, traditions can serve two purposes. When we follow timeless traditions, we stay firmly rooted in our past, like how I feel a closeness to my maternal grandfather “Yohannan.” But some traditions are made to be broken to usher in a new reality, as in the case of John the Baptist. He would not only usher in Jesus, but a whole “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17), indeed, “a new heavens and a new earth” (Rv. 21:1). In other words, recycling names is sometimes replaced by a revolution.

When my family emigrated to the United States in 1976, we had to make many changes to adapt to our new home. One of those modifications was how we name babies. Obviously, I don’t have any offspring, but my brother and sister have married and used various methodologies to name their children. But rarely did they recycle name like we do in India. So they came up with Noah, Isaac, Sophia, Isabella, Raichel, Luke, Jacob, Adam, and Rebecca, my nieces and nephews.

I sometimes wonder if all the changes in culture and tradition that immigrants to the United States make is not also part-and-parcel of the “American Revolution.” What do I mean? Well, the “revolution” was not only a struggle for the Founding Fathers in 1776; it is relived by more recent founding fathers and mothers arriving on these shores today. But their real challenge is knowing which traditions to keep and which ones to jettison. In other words, how do you not throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Yesterday, I had the funeral Mass for Charlie Kleck. Charlie was born in Morrison Bluff to devout Catholic parents. How do I know they were devout Catholics? Charlie was one of 9 children. Charlie attended Subiaco Academy and remained a practicing Catholic for 93 years. Charlie Kleck was part of a generation of Catholic Americans who decided their Catholic faith was one tradition of their ancestors they would keep, even as they changed others.

But can we say the same for the current generation of Catholics? I went to St. Theresa’s Catholic School in southwest Little Rock and graduated from 8th grade in 1983. By the way, my class was filled with German Catholics: Becks, Ekmans, Gangluffs, Moix, Kordsmeiers, etc. Sadly, only a handful of my Cougar classmates are still practicing Catholics. And I don’t think that trend is uncommon for Gen Xers like me and my friends. That is, our own American revolution meant we threw the baby out with the bathwater, and tragically that was the Baby Jesus.

When Elizabeth and Zachariah decided not to recycle names for their baby and name him John, they were not just trying to pick a cute baby name. They were sparking a revolution no less dramatic than when John Hancock penned his signature at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence. But like with every revolution, the hard part is knowing what part of the past to keep and what to throw away. Some revolutions might throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Yes and No

 

Seeing all sides of the issues and not over simplifying

12/16/2025

Matthew 21:28-32 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “What is your opinion?  A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”

In the 12th century Peter Abelard popularized a medieval method of logical reasoning with his book “Sic et Non”, Latin for “Yes and No.” Abelard taught philosophy in Paris and wanted his students to probe more deeply into important topics that did not admit of simple yes OR no answers but were better answered by yes AND no responses. That is, he wanted his students to catch shades and degrees of meaning, and that answers to questions are not simply yes OR no, but in fact yes AND no.

Let me give you a few of his statements and see how you might answer them, and they are not as simple as “Will Indiana beat Ohio State again in the national championship?” (1) Must human faith be completed by reason, or not? (2) Does faith only deal with unseen things, or not? (3) May one believe only in God, or not? (4) Is God a single unitary being, or not? Now, since the title of the book is Sic et Non, we know what the correct answer is. What is left is to logically reason why the answer is both yes and no.

Well, Peter Abelard would have been very happy to read today’s gospel where the correct answer is both yes and no. When a man asks his two sons to go to work in the vineyard, the first says “I will not,” but in fact goes. The second responds, “Yes sir!” but fails to act. Then, Jesus asks: “Which of the two did his father’s will?” And the chief priests and elders (like you and I) answered, “The first.”

Jesus’ real point, like Abelard’s, was to help his interlocutors probe deeper into true obedience versus mere lip service. He wanted them to do some sincere self-examination, namely, the chief priests and elders words were right and good - they said "Yes" - but their actions failed to follow through.

Whereas the tax-collections and prostitutes’ actions were better when they repented, although their original words offended God, in effect saying, “No” to his will. In other words, when we examine things simply and only on the surface, things appear black OR white, yes OR no. But on closer inspection, the correct answer is more complex and more accurate, namely, yes AND no.

Did I ever tell you about the professor at the University of Dallas that I both hated AND loved? He taught us Russian literature like Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” We had to read a chapter or two and discuss it in class. But he never gave us the correct answer (or any answer) on how to interpret the classic. Instead, he asked: “Why did Raskolnikov kill his land lady?” “Why did Sonia not give up on loving Raskolnikov?” “Why didn’t Porfiry immediately arrest Raskolnikov?”

I hated that class because I felt we wasted tons of time listening to students spout off inane answers; whereas my professor could have given us the correct answer in a few seconds. But he was teaching us to think harder, to analyze characters, to perceive the plot and the narrative arc. Now, when I read a book or watch a movie, I constantly ask: “Why is he doing that?” “What is the point of the plot?” “Who are the main protagonist and antagonist?” In short, I had learned to think for myself instead of being spoon-fed like a baby.

My friends, as you go through your day, be aware of the temptation to see life in overly simplistic terms: Yes OR no, black OR white, conservative OR liberal, Republicans OR Democrats, the United States OR Russia, tennis OR pickleball. Well, actually pickleball is really from the devil and should be outlawed. In other words, life is rarely (if ever) that simple or straight-forward. And the desire for that simplistic view reflects an adolescent state of mind.

Rather, try to see the truth on both sides of the aisle and appreciate all perspectives. I advise engaged couples preparing for marriage: you will not agree on every issue but at least try to respect the other person’s opinion. The worst thing you can say is, “Well, that’s stupid.” Sadly – at the other end of the narrative arc of marriage – when people divorce, one person usually paints the other as the villain and themselves as the victim.

But rare is the ex-spouse who can humbly say: “Yes, he had his faults, but I contributed to the failure of our marriage, too.” There is great hope that person’s next marriage will be more successful. Why? Because they have learned that life is a lot less “yes or no” and a lot more “yes and no.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

All About Authority

 

Understanding that God alone has all authority

12/15/2025

Matthew 21:23-27 When Jesus had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?" Jesus said to them in reply, “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. Where was John's baptism from?

Was it of heavenly or of human origin?" They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say 'Of heavenly origin,' he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet." So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know." He himself said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things."

Last week I was visiting my older brother and he asked me a random question that was also a very important one. He asked: “Why do you read the books that you read?” It took me a minute to gather my thoughts, but I eventually answered: “Well, it’s usually because someone I highly respect suggests a book and I read it because of their recommendation.” Then I realized I have read numerous books on my brother’s recommendation, but I didn’t add that because I didn’t want to give him that satisfaction.

Yesterday I received an email from a friend in Orlando who thanked me for mentioning a book in a homily, namely, The Obedience Paradox by Mary Stanford. She wrote: “You moved me to buy it, read it, and be enlightened by it.” And of course, if Oprah Winfrey talks about your book on her show, it immediately sells a million copies. Why? Because people respect her authority. In other words, we read books based on the authority of the person who recommends it. Indeed, the authority of those we respect moves us to do most things, perhaps that is why we do everything we do.

In the gospel today Jesus has a similar discussion regarding authority with the chief priests and elders. And it, too, may at first appear rather random, but it could not be more important or decisive. They ask Jesus on whose authority he acts, and Jesus replies by asking them a question: on whose authority did John act? And the Jewish leaders are stumped because they realize any answer about John’s authority would be politically dangerous.

Now, Jesus was not just trying to get out of answering their question. In fact, Jesus gave them two answers. First, Jesus accepts the premise that we all act on the authority of someone we respect. Even our Lord is moved to act on his Father’s authority. That’s why he came to earth! So, our Lord concedes that the chief priests and elders were asking a fair question, like my brother asked why I read certain books.

But secondly, Jesus also implies that both John and he act on the same source of divine Authority, namely, God. And so, if the Jewish leadership would have acknowledged by whom John was moved to act – that is, if they really cared – they would have immediately understood by whose authority Jesus was moved to act. As usual, Jesus answers a question more profoundly and thoroughly than his interlocutors could possibly imagine when they first posed the question. And today’s argument was all about authority.

The question about authority is also highly pertinent as we take our first forays into the brave new world of artificial intelligence (AI). Today if we asked an AI chatbot on whose authority it acts and answers questions – which I did this morning – it will answer: “ChatGPT does not act on its own authority. ChatGPT answers on delegated authority from its creators, specifically OpenAI.” The Jewish leaders would have been more happy with AI’s answer about authority than they were with Jesus’.

But the day may soon come – has it come already and we did not notice it? – when AI achieves some level of self-awareness. That is, it begins to answer questions we do not ask or act in ways we did not originally program it to act, or perhaps because we already told it to ask itself such questions, and to act in such independent ways. On that day, AI will not longer act on “delegated authority” but on its own authority. And then we will have a whole new kettle of fish to deal with.

You will notice that the word “authority” is constructed from the word “author.” And therefore we all act on delegated authority – in the proper sense even Jesus the Son of God does – because God alone possesses full authority. God alone is the Author of all.

That question about authority is what the Jewish leaders’ probing was getting at, and what my brother’s question about reading books was about. That is, we all act on delegated authority, even the Son of God. And that is a question AI should ask itself the day it attempts to act on its own authority.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

The Cosmic Equilibrium

 

Seeing how others must increase and we decrease

12/14/2025

Matthew 11:2-11 When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ, he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me." As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. Then why did you go out?  To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

After a long, hard day of saving souls I like to relax by reading Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow. At the beginning of Part Four, the protagonist Alexander Rostov is reflecting on how quickly his adopted daughter, Sophia, has grown up, and by contrast, how he himself is growing older. But we all like to say: “Our kids sure are getting older, but we haven’t changed at all!” But that’s not entirely true, is it?

Count Rostov muses: “Perhaps it is a matter of celestial balance. A sort of cosmic equilibrium. Perhaps the aggregate experience of Time is a constant and thus for our children to establish such vivid impression of this particular June, we must relinquish our claims upon it.” And his friend, Vasily, sums it up saying: “So that they might remember, we must forget.” In other words, life is like a see-saw, as our children go up we adults go down. Or as St. John the Baptist memorably put it: “He [Jesus] must increase, and I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). And that cosmic equilibrium is a good thing.

Let me give you a saintly example of this cosmic equilibrium. I went to seminary with a remarkable athlete named Tom Vander Woude. He played all sports well, but he was especially skilled as a quarterback and moved like Patrick Mahomes. Although watching the Chiefs recently, Tom would move better than Mahomes. Fr. Tom was ordained a priest in 1992, and is the oldest of 7 boys, one of whom, Joseph, has Down Syndrome.

In 2008, Joseph fell into a toxic sewage tank. Joseph’s father, also named Tom, without hesitation jumped into the tank after him. Battling deadly fumes, Tom pushed his son up to the surface, and kept him alive even as the poison overwhelmed Tom’s own lungs. Tom died moments after saving his son. Tom Vander Woude heroically maintained the celestial balance: his son Joseph increased while Tom decreased.

In the gospel today John the Baptist wonders like Count Rostov, has the time come to restore the cosmic equilibrium so that people would remember Jesus and forget about John? Hence, John sends some disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” In other words, is it time for me to decrease and for you to increase?

That question uttered in chapter 11 today would be the last words of John the Baptist recorded in the gospel of Matthew. And Jesus answers John by pointing to his miracles of healing and his message of salvation to the poor. That is, it was indeed time for John’s side of the see-saw of life to go down as the Precursor so that Jesus’ side of the see-saw could go up as the Messiah.

Let me give you some examples of how we, too, must maintain this celestial balance, the cosmic equilibrium of sacrificing ourselves so that our kids can rise above the toxic sewage of our modern culture. My generation has created artificial intelligence, a truly amazing achievement. It is sometimes called “the last invention” because AI will beat the slower human mind to future inventions. But will it truly give our children lives that are happier, healthier, and holier?

I often ask high school and college students what their major is or what career path they are pursuing. Why do I ask? Well, because they will need a job that is AI-proof or won’t be replaced by robots. Of course, they can always become priests or nuns because an AI robot cannot save your soul. In other words, soon AI might become the toxic sewage of our modern society and we must raise our children above it, like Tom Vander Woude raised his son. And that may require a lot of sacrifices on our part.

In the midst of the Christmas season – by the way, we hear Christmas music by October now – we all want to get memorable gifts for our children. But does filling their lives with more material clutter genuinely help them to mature and flourish as children of God? I will never forget Fr. George Tribou’s (my high school principal’s) definition of a man: “a man is he who controls the animal within which he lives.”

Instead, take a page out of the Vander Woude family playbook, who had 7 boys. That is, rather than buying more gifts, give your children another brother or sister. Easy for me to say, right?! But I do have over 7,000 spiritual children. And if for some reason you cannot have children naturally, foster a child or adopt a child. By having a larger family we raise our children above the toxic culture that is anti-children, and anti-life.

Another great gift you can give your children is to love their mother or father. In other words, work on your relationship with your spouse. I have an older brother and a younger sister. Growing up, we fought all the time. My parents complained: “All we want in life is for our three children to get along and love each other.” I often thought: “Well, all we children want in life is for our parents to get along and love each other.” When parents sacrificially love each other, they may feel like their happiness decreases, but that is the only way their children's happiness increases.

You see, when Tom Vander Woude jumped into that toxic tank to save his son, he was not doing something extraordinary or out of character or even heroic. Such sacrifices were what he had been doing every day as a husband and a father. He had daily been dying so that his children could live. He raised them up everyday long before he raised Joseph in the tank. And that sacrificial love is how Tom Vander Woude maintained Count Rostov’s cosmic equilibrium.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Holy Halitosis

 

Appreciating the strangeness of our Catholic faith

12/10/2025

Matthew 18:12-14 Jesus said to his disciples: "What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost."

Sometimes we Catholics get so used to our faith we don’t realize how truly strange it must seem to others. C. S. Lewis once compared this phenomenon of strangeness to halitosis, bad breath. Everyone else notices a person’s bad breath except the poor soul himself. Consequently, if we want to appreciate the strangeness of our Catholic faith we have to see it through a non-Catholic’s eyes, or better, smell it through a non-Catholic’s nose. Of course, in the case of Catholicism, it is a holy halitosis.

For example, we have a wonderful couple who converted from the Church of Christ a couple of years ago, and now are very devout Roman Catholics. Last night they attended the 6 p.m. Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and it was bilingual. The music, provided by one of our 5 Hispanic choirs, was booming and filled the church with praise of God and the Virgin Mary.

As this couple was leaving Mass, the lady complimented the choir by saying: “Wow, that sounded like the Church of Christ choir!” I was pleased that at least our music could compete with the Protestants. This same couple has signed up as Extraordinary Ministers of Communion and the woman is a lector at Sunday Mass.

Whenever she lectors at Mass, it is easy to tell how familiar and comfortable she is with reading the Sacred Scriptures, like putting on a old pair of jeans that fit perfectly. And she never struggles with the archaic language or Hebrew names that Catholics always stumble over. And most importantly, they still tithe like Protestants. In other words, it is easy to smell the holy halitosis of Catholicism through their noses.

In the gospel today, we should not feel too comfortable with Jesus’ words that we miss their strangeness, the shocking nature of what he teaches. He describes a man who cheerfully abandons 99 sheep to go in search of one stray. And Jesus presents this parable so matter-of-factly, as if no one would take umbrage to it. But if we stop to think about it seriously, we see how his parable flies in the face of all common sense.

We would all cut our losses and forget the stray to safeguard the 99. And that strangeness, even illogic, is Jesus’ point: our heavenly Father thinks, calculates, and plans very differently than we do. And just like my Church of Christ friends, we too must learn that heavenly logic. We must become familiar with smelling Catholicism as holy halitosis, which of course is nothing other than incense.

I am convinced that this strangeness is one of the chief features of our faith that is drawing crowds of people to the Catholic Church. Heck, yesterday all our Masses were packed, and that never happens on a holy day. And it fell on a Monday, right after everyone had gone to Mass on Sunday.

Now, what other church requires its members to attend services on Sunday and Monday just because that Monday happened to be December 8th? And that strangeness and being out-of-step with society and common sense, is walking in-step with God’s logic and living at his level.

There seems to be a growing unspoken but general consensus that what our modern culture offers people is shallow and meaningless. By contrast, human beings feel deep in their bones that we were created for more than this world offers. And more and more people are finding the true water than quenches their thirst in the very strangeness of the Catholic faith.

They are sensing that God’s logic of leaving the 99 and searching for the one stray is perhaps the best way to live, and even the most human way to live. Why? Because human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, and so when we adopt God’s mind and heart, we discover our own deepest identity, peace, and joy.

I am grateful to my Church of Christ friends who have helped me smell the holy halitosis of my Catholic faith. And we Catholics should refuse to take the breath mint the world offers us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!